ohio project

THE LEVEL OF SATISFACTION WITH LIFE

AFTER BECOMING A PARENT:

GENDER DIFFERENTIATION

Fulbright English Pre-academic Course 2008

OPIE

Institutional Affiliation - Ohio University

Names of authors

Pavlo Bohutskiy – Ukraine Gwendoline Nyambi– Cameroon Svitlana Volkova – Ukraine

Overview Introduction

Background

Research Question

Methodology

Results

Conclusions

Acknowledgments

Questions

BackgroundCook et al, 1982:

– Attitudes towards marriage on the increase The idea

that “marriage without children is not fully complete''

– Attitudes towards having children on the decrease

• Preference given to other priorities in life:

– career, money making, fun, self denial

Transition to the parenthood• The change of married couple to parenthood is considered a

“critical role transition point”

– Aldous, 1978

• Some authors present the transition to parenthood as a usual

event that can easily be predicted and managed

– Charting Parenthood, 2002

• It proves the fact that both personal and marital stress

increase after becoming a parent

• Multicultural Health Communication Centre, June 2003:

– Research also shows that parenthood could be a reason of

feelings like: anger, stress, guilt, confusion, and anxiety

Influence on life satisfaction?

Gender roles• Gender role attitudes shape parental attitudes differentially for

men and women Bernhartdt & Goldscheider, 2006

• Orientation towards transitions to fatherhood :

– Coltrane, 1996

– Nielsen, 1999

Research Question

• Do males and females report different levels

of life satisfaction after becoming parents?

Main Goals To define changes in life attitudes in female and

male after becoming a parents

To evaluate changes in life preferences before

and after parenthood

To prove or deny the hypothesis of gender

influence on peoples’ life satisfaction after

parenthood

Research

Survey

Analyses

Methodology: Questionnaire• General information:

– gender, age, country and number of children.

• Before parenthood:

– rank of life priorities

– scale of time spent on those activities;

– level of life satisfaction.

• After parenthood:

– rank of life priorities

– scale of time spent on those activities;

– level of life satisfaction.

0 – 100%

7 main

priorities

Not Satisfied Very Satisfied

Main categories

of life attitude

Money Making

Career

Sport/Health

Family

Friends

Self-Improvement

Other

Participants

Males Females

Gender

38.5% 65.5%

Age Females Males

Response

Percent

Response

Percent

<25 31.3% 50.0%

26-30 43.8% 20.0%

>30 25.0% 30.0%

Amount of

children

Females Males

Response

Percent

Response

Percent

1 75.0% 70.0%

2 12.5% 20.0%

>2 12.5% 10.0%

Money

makingCareer Family Sport/health Friends Self-improv. Other

Male 3.1 5 5.1 3.3 4.5 4.4 2.6

Female 4.56 5.63 4.88 3 3.88 4.44 1.63

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

Th

e r

an

k o

f p

rio

rity

Ranking of priopities with life BEFORE parenthood

Money

makingCareer Family Sport/health Friends Self-improv. Other

Male 3.6 4.7 5.4 4.2 4.8 3.4 1.9

Female 4.13 4.81 6.38 3.06 3.38 4.25 2

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

Th

e r

an

k o

f p

rio

rity

Ranking of priorities in life AFTER parenthood

Distinctions in rank of priorities in life by gender

Money

makingCareer Family Sport/health Friends Self-improv. Other

Male 0.5 -0.3 0.3 0.9 0.3 -1 -0.7

Female -0.43 -0.82 1.5 0.06 -0.5 -0.19 0.37

0.5

-0.3

0.3

0.9

0.3

-1

-0.7

-0.43

-0.82

1.5

0.06

-0.5

-0.19

0.37

-1.5

-1

-0.5

0

0.5

1

1.5

2

Money

makingCareer Family Sport/health Friends Self-impr. Other

Male 20 20.5 18.3 11.7 16.3 7.9 5.3

Female 19.38 29.56 22.06 5.56 10.19 8.69 4.56

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

Tim

e,

%

Amount of time (%) spent on the following priority BEFORE parenthood: gender differences

Money

makingCareer Family Sport/health Friends Self-impr. Other

Male 23.7 12.5 34 7.7 9.8 8.1 4.2

Female 14.56 17.88 37.19 6.69 9.13 11.31 3.25

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

Tim

e,

%

Amount of time (%) spend on the following priority AFTER parenthood: gender differences

Money

makingCareer Family Sport/health Friends Self-impr. Other

Male 3.7 -8 15.7 -4 -6.5 0.2 -1.1

Female -4.82 -11.68 15.13 1.13 -1.06 2.62 -1.31

3.7

-8

15.7

-4

-6.5

0.2

-1.1

-4.82

-11.68

15.13

1.13

-1.06

2.62

-1.31

-15

-10

-5

0

5

10

15

20

Distinctions in time spending by gender

Conclusions from figures:• there are no direct relation between the ranking of priorities

and time spent for the specific activity

• For male:

• – the level of priority in per cent for such activities as

sport/health, friends, career and self improvement are high

then the per cent of time spent for these actions;

• the level of priority in per cent for activities such as family and

money making is less than the per cent of time spent.

Conclusions from figures:• For female:

• – the level of priority in per cent for such activities as sport/health,

friends and self improvement are high then the per cent of time

spent for these actions;

• the level of priority in per cent for activities such as family is less than

the per cent of time spent.

• The gap between priorities and time spent for male is 1.7 time more

than for female

3.20

3.90

4.13

3.94

0.00 1.00 2.00 3.00 4.00 5.00

Before

After

Level on satisfaction from life BEFORE/AFTER having children: gender differences

Female Male

Conclusions• Birth of a child makes females feel less satisfied in life in

contrast to male who feel more satisfied.

• Before becoming a parent females have opportunities to spent more

time for such activities as:

– as money making and career, what make them feel more

independent and self-confident;

– part of females has to combine motherhood and work, or part

time work.

>25 25-30 <30

Male 0.6 0.5 1

Female -0.4 -0.15 0

0.60.5

1

-0.4

-0.15

0

-0.6

-0.4

-0.2

0

0.2

0.4

0.6

0.8

1

1.2

Changing in level on satisfaction from life before and after having children: gender and age differences

Thank you for attention

Questions?